THE MAKING OF POPULAR GUYANESE MUSIC

GUYANA

Population: 800,000 (approximately)

Introduction

Guyana is located on the north eastern coast of
South America, bordered by Suriname to the east, Brazil to the south and
Venezuela to the west.

In 1595, when Sir Walter Raleigh made his voyage to
the New World, he gave accounts of EL Dorado, which is believed to be in and
around Guyana. European settlement of this area started in 1615 with the Dutch
who brought West African slaves to work their cotton and sugar plantations that
they established along the coastline. The French and the English also laid
claim to various parts of the region using African slaves to work on their
plantations. The influence of the Dutch, Amerindian, British and to a lesser
extent the French can be seen in names and places to this day.

The British became a major player in the
colonization of this region around 1781 and in 1814 the Colonies ofEssequibo, Demerara and Berbice were ceded
to Britain.They were merged in 1831 to
become British Guiana.

After the abolition of slavery in 1834, most of the
Africans moved away from the plantations and the British replaced this labor
force with indentured workers from India. Immigrants from Europe and China were
also lured to this flourishing new British Colony.

THE ORIGIN OF GUYANESE MUSIC

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British Guiana gained Independence from the British
in 1966, and is now called GUYANA and as a result of its history the population
is comprised of 6 ethnic groups and is the only English speaking country in South
America.

The population of Guyana is made up of 40 percent
Africans, 51 percent East Indians and the balance Chinese, Portuguese,
Europeans and Amerindians .

Regardless of the make up of this society, African
heritagehas always beenthe dominantculture which is displayed in their music and folklore while
mimicking their European masters who were famous for their grand marching band
parades and Sunday concerts in the Botanical gardens.

Inthe early
twentieth century, most former slaves were now living in the capital city of
Georgetownworking as paid laborers and
part time musicians. As slaves, they were accustomed to celebrating the end of
the crop season when their masters would allow them to play drums, dance and
sing. This is called Quek Queh or Masquerade Music in Guyana and in other parts
of the West Indies it is known as” Junkanoo”.They would also sing songs about
their devilish masters and make fun of the way they dressed. To their delight ,
their masters were amused and threw them coins. The Masquerade band is a
permanent fixture in Guyanese culture. Singing songs about their former owners
shifted to singing songs about everyday life and experiences. Some Africans
learned to play the guitar most likely from their European counterparts. Now
they were playing chords and singing simple songs about life and sometimes
making fun of each other. This was the beginning of Shanto in Guyana, an early
form of Calypso.

THE MAKING OF GUYANESE MUSIC

Georgetown,
British Guiana at the beginning of the twentieth century, was now set to become
the musical capital of the British West Indies.During this era, big dance bands
emerged such as Tom Charles and the Syncopators who were famous for their
Creole “jump up” music.Harry Whittaker played alto saxophone with the
Syncopators Orchestra andwas
recognized as the best saxophonist in this region until his passing.He is
remembered for his fantastic solos on GEMS recordings,but mostly by his work on
“Cool Dive”(Jazz) an Al Seales composition recorded in the early 50’s on which
the performances are remarkable to this day.The Famous MootooBrothers were early East Indian musicians
who attempted the fusion of Indian music with Afro rhythms.They were the back up band for many of the
Trinidadian Calypsonians who came to Guyana after Carnival including the Mighty
Lion.They moved to Trinidad and it is
believed this is the origin of“soca
chutney “ another form of calypso played on the island of Trinidad . Then there
was thetalented Al Seales,leader of
theWashboards, a true musical
visionary who always thought that Guyana’s music should also express their
Latin American influence even though they were bound economically and
culturally to the British West Indies.He used Latin percussion instruments in
all of his arrangements.

This was an early fusion of Latin and American dance
music which is what the Washboards played at the time.

The
arrival of Bill Rogers singing Shanto and his appearing at local Vaudeville
Shows was the beginning of a new musical dimension. He is the most famous
Shantonian to come out of Guyana and one of the first to sign a recording
contract with a known British Gramophone Record Company “PARLAPHONE RECORDS”
where he recorded BEEGEE BHAGEE, DADDY GONE, and SIGHTSEEING IN THE U.Kto name a few.It was “Beegee Bhagee” that
went world wide after Harry Belafonte allegedly used the song on one of his
albums.

By
1940 Carnival in Trinidad was set as an annual festivity. However, in Guyana,
the VAUDEVILLE Shows were featuring regularly local and foreignentertainers likeBill Rogers, Lord Sweet Dreams, Lord Coffee, King Fighter, Lord
Canary, Mighty Sparrow , Lord Melody, Lord Cristo and many others who came to
Guyana after Carnival to learn and improve their performing skills.

.COMMERCIALIZATION OFEARLY GUYANESE MUSIC

In 1950, Al Seales, leader of the Washboards
Orchestra started GEMS Recording Company. This is the earliest Recording
Company in the region to create a complete production from musical
arrangementsrecorded locally on tape,
to the manufacturing and distribution of gramophone records, through MELODISC
RECORDS of London, England.His first
commercial release was “Jumbee Jamboree”.This song was later recorded by the Andrew Sisters and Harry Belafonte
of the USA.

This was the most flourishing period musically in
Guyana with Al Seales recording some of the Caribbean’s best Calypsonians and
local Artists like Doreen Greavsande who was his favorite female vocalist. She
is known best for her recording of an original song “Dig Me” on GEMS label .
Lord Melody’s “The Devil” and “BooBoo Man” wererecorded at GEMS, but again it was Harry Belafonte’s version that
was played worldwide, e.g “Boo Boo Man” was originally recorded by Lord Melody
on a GEMS label # SM-002A 78 r.p.m gramophone record. This became one of
Belafonte’s cover songs and and was also done by the Andrew sisters. GEMS was
the vehicle for all popular Caribbean Music during this period and most of
their productions were licensed to American Recording Companies without their
knowledge or proper agreements.

Al Seales was a musician and a talented artist who
hated legalities and was therefore denied his rightful share in a business that
exploded into something bigger than he could ever imagine.

Vivian Lee ofACE
Records recorded the performances of talented Guyanese artists who
appearedat the Vaudeville shows. Billy
Moore’sFour Lords, made their debut
on this label and went on to record with GEMS Records one of Guyana’s and the
Caribbean’s most famous original Christmas songs “Happy Holiday”.

Vivian Lee was a talented entrepreneur who ran a
successful advertising company and with the emergence of commercial radio he
monopolized this new mediato promote
his music productions and vaudeville shows.This brought about some dissatisfaction and concerns about equal
exposure of all Guyanese Music but these concerns were never addressed by the
board of directors of the radio station who were mostly the upper middle class
in Guyana and cared less about the development oflocal music in Guyana.

Vivian Lee went on to produce one of Guyana’s best
known popular singers,Johnny
Braff,who had a string of hits in the
60’s that sold very well locally.

By the end of the 60’s , big band music had
disappeared since most of the accomplished musicians had migrated to greener
pastures in the UK or the USA.

The electronic age had arrived and small combos
using electric instruments and keyboards mushroomed across the land playing
music from the US and UK. Pat Blakney’s Rhythmaires and Des Glasford’s Combo
Seven were the most popular Electric combos during this period with more than
twenty bands inGeorgetown alone.Now Guyana was no longer the musical
powerhouse it once was and by the end of the 80’s the small electric combos had
also disappeared and Guyana fell into a musical coma and remains there to this
day.

CONCLUSION

There are some signs of recovery in local music, but
most of Guyana’s music today is imported from other Caribbean islands such as
Jamaica’s reggae and Trinidad’s soca.Guyana’s Dave Martin, leader of the Trade Winds calypso band, has been
around for more that three decades and continues to make remarkable musical
contributions to the Caribbean.Eddie
Grant, a Guyanese music celebrity, recently remigrated to the region from
London and set up his recording company, ICE Records , in Barbados. Maybe this
is a sign of things to come.

Guyana is still a nation ofsix ethnic groups living together with
endless unexplored possibilities more than any man could imagine ,but the
harmony is missing.

Until they find that perfect harmony and a way to
share their feelings and thoughts Guyana will never be able to create, play or
do anything outstanding together. Music is love and the only international
language that exists on earth.I pray
that they find that C-E-G (perfect harmony) to recapture their past glory.